On November 1, Japanese adventurer Yoki Tanaka kicked off one of the more audacious trekking projects anywhere in Asia: a four-month, 2,000km traverse of Taiwan from tip to tip, with every one of the island's 100 Baiyue peaks summited along the way.
The Baiyue, or "100 Peaks," is a curated list drawn up by Taiwanese mountaineers in the early 1970s. Taiwan has roughly 268 summits above 3,000m, but the list rewards more than altitude — beauty, prominence, difficulty and sheer character all count. (Amusingly, one peak, Lushan, now measures just 2,981m after surveys trimmed its height, yet it keeps its place.) The list was partly inspired by Japan's own revered 100 mountains, which makes Tanaka's involvement fitting: the 43-year-old has form, having walked 7,800km over 208 days to summit Japan's 100 famous mountains in 2014, then scaling the concept up to 300 peaks across three years and about 20,000km of walking.
His Taiwan route starts at Cape Fugui lighthouse on the northern coast and should finish around March at Eluanbi, the island's southern tip. The opening 150km is road walking before the first trailhead, after which the big mountains arrive fast: Xueshan (3,886m), Nanhudashan (3,742m), Qilaishan (3,560m), Hehuanshan (3,417m) and Nenggaoshan (3,262m) in the first stretch. He'll use no motorised transport at all, mixing 48 nights in towns, 38 in mountain huts and 39 under canvas, with 16 rest days and 20 contingency days built in.
The crux comes in early January: over two weeks in the remote interior of the Central Mountain Range, hauling his own food, navigating trails that may have faded from the map, and hoping for water. A reconnaissance trip to Xueshan in December 2025 showed how real that last risk is — two marked water sources were bone dry. By late January he should reach the historic Batongguan Trail, cut in 1875 under the Qing dynasty to cross the island's interior, which leads toward 3,952m Yushan, Taiwan's rooftop.
Local knowledge shaped the plan, too. Tanaka originally hoped to start in spring, but Taiwanese mountaineers steered him away from the rainy season and typhoon risks, pushing the start to November. He has already made several scouting trips, including an east-west crossing of the island. For context on the scale of the challenge: Taiwan's representative in Japan noted that the fastest foreign completion of the Baiyue to date took three years and eight months across multiple trips. Tanaka is attempting it in one continuous, self-propelled push — and you can follow his live tracking on his expedition site.
Why should a regular traveller care? Because this is a rare spotlight on one of Asia's most underrated hiking destinations. Taiwan packs 3,900m mountains, ridge trails and colonial-era routes into an island you can cross in days by train. If a winter visit is on your radar, Tanaka's route map is essentially a ready-made inspiration list of the island's finest high-country terrain.
